Who Is It For?

Chapter 19 Flashcards Preview

Actus Reus

Latin term for “guilty act” used to describe the specific act of a criminal event.

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What are a few techniques that an interrogator might use to get a confession

Rationalization, projection, minimization

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Projective Test

Psychological tests that try to evaluate a subject’s personality and thought processes by exploring how the test subject thinks about themselves and their world and performed by evaluating that subject’s responses to ambiguous images or new situations.

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Psychological Autopsy

A post-mortem investigative procedure requiring the assessment of suicide risk factors at the time of death.

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Rationalization

A mental process in which the criminal justifies their actions by providing explanations that they feel are reasonable and reflect favorably upon themselves.

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Psychology

The field that is focused upon understanding human behavior by examining a person’s individual thought and mental processes.

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Projection

A means whereby the criminal places blame for the crime on someone else, projecting the blame, often onto the victim.

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Linkage Analysis

The process of trying to understand the behavior of an offender by seeing if similar features can be found in different crimes in an attempt to link different crimes together.

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Linkage Analysis

The process of trying to understand the behavior of an offender by seeing if similar features can be found in different crimes in an attempt to link different crimes together.

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Malingering

The faking or exaggeration of symptoms. Mens Rea: Latin term for “guilty mind” used to describe the criminal intent of an event.

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Neurobiological Psychology:

A subdiscipline of psychology that examines the molecular and cellular components of the brain and nervous system to discover how memory, emotion, perception, reasoning and other traits are stored and processed at the microscopic level.

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Neurobiological Psychology

A subdiscipline of psychology that examines the molecular and cellular components of the brain and nervous system to discover how memory, emotion, perception, reasoning and other traits are stored and processed at the microscopic level.

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Personality Inventory

A standardized psychological test that is used to determine a subject’s personality type and provide an overall personality profile of the person.

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Specific Disorder Test

A psychological test developed to evaluate a patient for certain mental disorders.

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Intelligence and Cognitive Function Test

A psychological test that measures a person’s intellectualand thought capacity in a variety of subareas such as verbal, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.

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Insane Suicide

A strictly legal term, defined by the US Supreme Court, to apply to a decedent when their “reasoning faculties are so far impaired that he is not able to understand the moral character, the general nature, consequences, and effect of the act he is about to commit, or when he isimpelled thereto by an insane impulse, which he has not the power to resist.”

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Brain Function and Impairment Test

A psychological test that tries to determine the type and extent of brain function injury and impairment that may be present in a subject.

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Competence to Stand Trial

In order to stand trial, a defendant must have both “sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding” and a “rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him.”

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Clinical Psychology

A subdiscipline of psychology that focuses upon the diagnosis and treatment of mental and behavioral disorders in people.

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Criminal Profiling

A largely investigative tool where accepted concepts from behavioral science are used to provide information about the criminal’s behavioral patterns and personal characteristics based on known information about a serial crime.

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Diminished Capacity

A legal defense where the offender had a reduced ability to understand the crimes that they committed – they could not form the needed mens rea or did not act knowing theconsequences of their actions – but did not fully meet the requirements of legal insanity.

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Equivocal Deaths

Deaths where the reasons and intentions of the victim and/or the circumstances surrounding the death are not clear.

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Forensic Psychology

A subdiscipline of psychology that deals with the application of psychological theories and practices to inform legal questions.

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Adversarial Approach to Law

When opposing sides of a legal issue present contrasting views, supported by logical arguments, as a means for getting at the key information of a case.

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Brain Fingerprinting

A technique that uses very rapid multiple measurements of the brain’s electrical signals (“brain waves”) in response to various stimuli, such as words, pictures or sounds, todetermine if a particular memory exists within a person’s mind.

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Legal Competence

Possessing the necessary abilities or legal qualifications required to participate in a legal process.

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Modus Operandi (MO)

The term refers to the method, habits and tendencies of the offender in committing the crime – how the crime was committed.

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Legal Insanity

An entirely legal construct that is usually a viable defense only if the person either did not know what they were doing or couldn’t tell right from wrong at the time of the crime.

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Sociology

The field that examines how individuals and groups function and behave within the context of larger societies and how individuals form social networks that collectively operate together as complex organizations.